Today on fLiP iT fRiDaY, we’re chatting with Jill from Reading Is Bliss aka @readingisbliss on Twitter.

Describe a typical day in your life.

I wake up between 6:45 and 7:20 to get ready for school. I leave for school at 8:35, school starts at 8:50 and I’m get out at 3:50. Once I’m home I eat a snack, play the wii fit for an hour, read, eat dinner, do homework, check my blog, check my email, read, get ready for bed, go to sleep around 10:30 or 11:00…….then do it all again! Its pretty boring but on weekends I get to babysit, shop, and see movies so it gets a little more interesting.

I miss babysitting. You get to enjoy the kids without keeping them, eat their pop tarts and mac and cheese, play their Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo… well, at least that’s what I remember!

What is your favorite YA book and why? Or, which YA book has had the most profound effect on you and why?

Gosh…..This is such a tough question because I have read so many that I’ve loved. Most recently I fell in love with Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender. I’ve also loved Switch by Carol Snow and Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty. Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb is a book I’ll always remember because was one of the first books I read after my grandpa passed away in Jan ’08 and I couldn’t even finish it since i could relate to most of it too closely. It is such a powerful and sad novel that triggered too many feeling after such a hard time for me.

A few people have mentioned Cures For Heartbreak to me recently. Now I’m really going to have to check it out.

What are 5 of your favorite things?

1. books (duh!)
2. babysitting (I rarely have a free weekend that I’m not babysitting but I LOVE it)
3. my cell phone
4. frozen yogurt
5. track meets

How long have you been blogging, and how did you get your book blogging start?

I’ve been blogging since January of this year. I started because my mom was tired of hearing my opinions on books she doesn’t read but I have too big a mouth not to share with someone! That’s actually only partly true. I kept up with a few blogs and one day (with my mom’s encouragement) I decided to start my own and share my thoughts on books with others who actually might be interested in them. I started my blog without knowing all of the hard work that it comes with, without knowing the AMAZING bloggers and authors I’d meet, without knowing of the books I’d be exposed too. I started without knowing how much I’d love this!

Yep, I can totally relate to your last 2 sentences when it comes to writing books! I think anything truly worthwhile and rewarding is hard work. And I know that you guys put so much love and effort into making your blogs awesome resources for readers, so thank you!

Are you planning any upcoming new features or special content on your book blog and/or is there anything specific you want potential new visitors to know about your blog?

Let’s see here….I host a lot of guest blogs and interviews. This pas April was crazy hectic with guests and May focused on birthdays (since my birthday is May 2nd and all that jazz). I’m trying to come up with a creative meme but until then I participate in In My Mailbox and I review often (or at least I try to). So check it out.

In addition to blogging, what other creative pursuits do you enjoy?

I try to write. I always start with a great idea but after 2 pages or so my idea is ruined and gets tossed aside. So I have a lot of good intros to stories but that’s as far as it usually goes.

As soon as I hear that someone is a writer or trying to write, I’m all over it with “No, don’t give up!” So… you could always try combining a couple of the intros into one storyline and seeing what you come up with! You never know — that might spark something fun!

What do you want to be when you “grow up”?

I want to teach 2nd grade. I’ve known since kindergarten I wanted to teach. My kindergarten teacher was actually so bad that she let me teach my failing classmates during recess in exchange for smiley face pencils. I am forever grateful for her though since doing that inadvertenly made me discover my passion to teach and that has never left me. My mom says I should be a lawyer since I argue a lot but I just consider that a back-up plan.

Maybe you’re both right. I think arguing is a good trait to have when dealing with a classroom full of kids. Or more specifically, their parents. 🙂

What are 3 things you’d like to do or accomplish in your lifetime?

So this means we can as out there as we want, right? Ok well then I would love it if I could …

1. run a 400m dash in 58 seconds. Since I run it in 70 seconds now I doubt that will happen but I can dream. Hmmm what else…..
2. I’d like to travel the world.
3. I’d like to become a world renowned teacher.
4. I’d love to have a big family and a loving husband.
5. I’d like to continue to read and interact with more great authors (like Sarah Ockler).

I guess that’s over 3 now so I’ll stop before this before turns into a paper on my life dreams…so yeah.

Hey, it’s awesome to have so many dreams, and it sounds like you’re already working on some of them! And look, another traveler in our midst! Yay! Now we really need to get going with that bake sale road trip fundraiser…

Tell us something that people who know you in real life would be surprised to learn about you.

I’m a person who tells people everything and what I don’t tell is pretty obvious about my personality when you meet me but I’m very demanding and controlling but patient too. I can’t survive without a schedule so I plan absolutly EVERYTHING in my day. I have a color coded calender and a marker board just for my TO-DO lists hanging on my wall. I stress out over absolutly everything and I worry a lot. I also feel like I have to provide for everybody. At school if you need food, money, a jacket, I’m the girl to go to. People tell me I’ll grow up to be that sweet over-planning room mom you had in elementary school. You know the one who always had everything together (or at least looked that way) and brought cookies?

Cookies? Scheduling? Okay, Jill, you are in charge of the bake sale! I think we only need about 100,000 cookie plates to start. 😉

Now, it’s time for Apocalypse Mad Libs!

If I ever had to face a purple people eater I’d want Katie Alender on my side, because if she can write with such passighosts and life then she can surely take on a purple people eater.

If she wasn’t available, I’d take Megan from the book, Bad Girls Don’t Die, because if she willingly stepped in to help someone who hates her fight a possessed spirit that’s after her then she has the bravery to help me (someone who actually likes her) face this monster.

In any case, if I only had 1 day to live before the end of the world, I’d eat 100 bowls of pasta and 1000 bowls of Cookie Dough Ice Cream and just for the sake of it a salad on the side and then I’d tell everyone, “Always plan ahead, read too much, and in the face of a purple people eater……RUN!”

All right, anyone else have that song stuck in your head now? No? How about now…

Thanks for stopping by fLiP iT fRiDaY today, Jill! Check out Jill’s blog at Reading is Bliss and follow her at @readingisbliss on Twitter.

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fLiP iT fRiDaY is a weekly feature at SarahOckler.com showcasing the fabulous YA book bloggers and reviewers who share young adult fiction with the world and inspire raves, rants, intelligent discourse, and a whole bunch of book-lovin’ among readers everywhere. If you’d like to be featured on fLiP iT fRiDaY, contact me!